Sir, – Patrick Bury's thought-provoking article about the role of the Parachute Regiment on Bloody Sunday unfortunately perpetuates the argument that error is central to explaining the killings that day ("Paras were wrong regiment in wrong place", November 11th). It was not an error of judgment that sent the Paras into the Bogside. They were chosen by Gen Robert Ford precisely because of their "battle record", not despite it. The detail of events on the day could not be known in advance, but the broad outline was not difficult to predict. Take one no-go area in which the IRA was active, add 10,000 civilian marchers and then stir in 100 armed paratroopers. And just to make sure, stand at the barricades, as Gen Ford did, and shout "Go on the Paras, go and get them" as they charge in.
The potential for disaster was quite clear to senior British officers based in Derry, who made urgent efforts to have this decision changed in the days and hours before the Paras went in. – Yours, etc,
Dr NIALL
Ó DOCHARTAIGH,
School of Political Science
and Sociology,
National University
of Ireland, Galway.
Sir, – On January 30th, 1972, soldiers of the 1st Battalion, Parachute Regiment, British army, shot dead 14 unarmed civilians. Twelve others were wounded.
While all those responsible for this incident, which arguably amounts to a war crime, should be fully investigated, the primary focus now, and immediately after this atrocity, should have been on the commissioned officers who were in charge of the soldiers of the 1st Battalion, Parachute Regiment, on January 30th, 1972.
On all officer training courses commissioned officers are told that “a commanding officer is responsible for all that his unit does, or fails to do”.
The commanding officer of the 1st Battalion, Parachute Regiment, on January 30th, 1972, was awarded the Order of the British Empire by the British government in October of 1972, less than a year following the January 1972 massacre. His adjutant and second in command on the day went on to reach the highest rank in the British army as commander of the general staff (CGS). – Yours, etc,
Comdt EDWARD HORGAN
(retired),
Castletroy,
Limerick.